Overheard on one of the mimeograph fb pages: As new models of Gestetners were rolled out and people brought in their old machines for a trade-in deal, the Gestetner dealers would destroy the inner workings of the old machines that they were no longer supporting as a way to avoid repairing them or answering repair questions down the line.
There you have it folks, the intentional destruction of functional machines for “economic” purposes, because, you know, “progress.”